I'm glad I have nothing to do with that FORUM
2 posters
Page 1 of 1
I'm glad I have nothing to do with that FORUM
CanadianLineman Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:53 pm
I don't like the BS that has been flying between this site and the other power lineman site. I think it is really uncalled for but if you have followed the nonsense over the last two years you might have had the idea that union people were no longer welcome over there but it was sort of kept in house and although stated was not really all the clear.
Well Byron Dunn, owner of powerlineman.com, has just made it very clear. He is non-union and always has been. Not only that but he apparently is proud of the fact that he attacked union lineman. That website has been clearly taken over by anti-union and management.
"After all that has been said and done on this board, I have always kept at arm’s length but, on this issue I feel that I must weigh in on it.
I am a municipal Lineman. I still live in the town I was born. I am 58 years old. When I was 19 I got hired on with the city on the trash trucks and I then transferred into the Electric Dept. I had dropped out of school and I thought I was a hippie until I saw what Linemen were getting paid. I was nineteen when they hired me. I was a high school dropout but they saw something in me.
The number one agreement between the boss (Mal Ballard) and I when he hired me was that he would never have to ask me to get a haircut. I agreed to that and I made good on it. I was clean cut pretty much from then on. All I knew is that I had a job with the City and I was making eight bucks an hour and I was going to stick it out.
On my first day at the new job, I saw a Lineman climb a pole for the first time. The Lineman’s name was Vern White and he was a man’s man and he just walked up that pole like it was nothing to do… I was so impressed that I was hook, line, and sinker for the trade at that moment. I needed to be a Lineman no matter what... I never looked at anything else from then on; this is what I am going to do.
I was a good enough climber and had enough guts that I was taken in by the other linemen and they taught me the trade…
At the city, our boss Mal, thought it was a good idea to hire any tramps that were passing through so we always had a variety of characters in and out of the department. Back then the number one rule was “If you can’t cut it, you can’t stay.” Linemen ran the Electric Department back then and it was good… I am so humbled and honored that I was chosen to be a lineman during that time..
I don’t mean to be arrogant or high and mighty but I was a natural (climber) lineman. I loved to climb and I love ropes and rigging still to this day and I still love to take a chance when one is presented...
Our crew back then consisted of a very good blend of: local guys, a few old boomers that settled down here, and tramps passing through. It was perfect for me to learn.
After a few years in the trade I heard about the union. Being the curious young lad I was, I started asking about the union and what it was. No one wanted to talk about it when I asked questions so, I started to research it on my own. Back then, that ment the library, I liked the idea of the union and thought we should do that and I started talking about it. Well, after a bit, one the old lineman pulled me aside to tell me something about the union.
What had happened, and, this is in the history books, there was some sort of ruckus down in Pueblo Colorado at the steel mill in the early 1900’s and some union thugs came in and killed some of the good local citizens (fathers and husbands)... It was the late nineteen seventies when this story was told to me and it was remembered and passed on to me with bitterness. The message I got was to fear the union. They will come out and kill you.
Fast forward a few years until after I was pronounced a Journeyman at my company, We were at Mesa Hot Line School one spring and I had my first encounter with a real Union man.
We were all drinking at the hotel and a bunch of us were in a room telling jokes. At some point in the evening someone asked me who I was, I said that I was a Lineman at the City of Longmont. Well, this dude from across the room heard that and says “you ain’t no lineman cause you ain’t union.” He said this right in front of a room full of twenty guys… The only thing I could do was to go after him. My guys grabbed me and his guys grabbed him so there was no fight but I sure wanted to bend his teeth in.
Even after that, I still respected the IBEW because I had read about its beginnings and I understood that the reason my pay was so good was directly because of the union and what they had done. For most of my career at the city, I was paid right at or above union scale when you take into account the benefits we had so I never had a reason to join other than to pay dues.. I now enjoy a good retirement from the city.
So, that’s my story and I am sticking to it.
I was a city worker my whole life and it was very good to me and I survived it with all of my fingers and toes.
bd" and the chief Rat answers:
"You ARE a Journeyman Lineman Byron, Just as I am...or was.
Ain't workin no more.
And, it don't take union to "certify" you are one.
Non union Utilities, Co-ops, and Municipalities, have THEIR criteria, for Their Journeyman Lineman. The Title of Journeyman Lineman, isn't held or dictated strictly by.... if you are in a union."
http://powerlineman.com/lforum/showthread.php?8981-Org.L.
I guess that's pretty clear for me - if you're union you're not welcome. I'm sure glad linemantoolbox is for all utility/contractor personnel to exchange ideas without fear of attack by a rabid anti-union radical. This may answer as well why Byron has endorsed all the racist attacks on the President of the United States.
Well Byron Dunn, owner of powerlineman.com, has just made it very clear. He is non-union and always has been. Not only that but he apparently is proud of the fact that he attacked union lineman. That website has been clearly taken over by anti-union and management.
"After all that has been said and done on this board, I have always kept at arm’s length but, on this issue I feel that I must weigh in on it.
I am a municipal Lineman. I still live in the town I was born. I am 58 years old. When I was 19 I got hired on with the city on the trash trucks and I then transferred into the Electric Dept. I had dropped out of school and I thought I was a hippie until I saw what Linemen were getting paid. I was nineteen when they hired me. I was a high school dropout but they saw something in me.
The number one agreement between the boss (Mal Ballard) and I when he hired me was that he would never have to ask me to get a haircut. I agreed to that and I made good on it. I was clean cut pretty much from then on. All I knew is that I had a job with the City and I was making eight bucks an hour and I was going to stick it out.
On my first day at the new job, I saw a Lineman climb a pole for the first time. The Lineman’s name was Vern White and he was a man’s man and he just walked up that pole like it was nothing to do… I was so impressed that I was hook, line, and sinker for the trade at that moment. I needed to be a Lineman no matter what... I never looked at anything else from then on; this is what I am going to do.
I was a good enough climber and had enough guts that I was taken in by the other linemen and they taught me the trade…
At the city, our boss Mal, thought it was a good idea to hire any tramps that were passing through so we always had a variety of characters in and out of the department. Back then the number one rule was “If you can’t cut it, you can’t stay.” Linemen ran the Electric Department back then and it was good… I am so humbled and honored that I was chosen to be a lineman during that time..
I don’t mean to be arrogant or high and mighty but I was a natural (climber) lineman. I loved to climb and I love ropes and rigging still to this day and I still love to take a chance when one is presented...
Our crew back then consisted of a very good blend of: local guys, a few old boomers that settled down here, and tramps passing through. It was perfect for me to learn.
After a few years in the trade I heard about the union. Being the curious young lad I was, I started asking about the union and what it was. No one wanted to talk about it when I asked questions so, I started to research it on my own. Back then, that ment the library, I liked the idea of the union and thought we should do that and I started talking about it. Well, after a bit, one the old lineman pulled me aside to tell me something about the union.
What had happened, and, this is in the history books, there was some sort of ruckus down in Pueblo Colorado at the steel mill in the early 1900’s and some union thugs came in and killed some of the good local citizens (fathers and husbands)... It was the late nineteen seventies when this story was told to me and it was remembered and passed on to me with bitterness. The message I got was to fear the union. They will come out and kill you.
Fast forward a few years until after I was pronounced a Journeyman at my company, We were at Mesa Hot Line School one spring and I had my first encounter with a real Union man.
We were all drinking at the hotel and a bunch of us were in a room telling jokes. At some point in the evening someone asked me who I was, I said that I was a Lineman at the City of Longmont. Well, this dude from across the room heard that and says “you ain’t no lineman cause you ain’t union.” He said this right in front of a room full of twenty guys… The only thing I could do was to go after him. My guys grabbed me and his guys grabbed him so there was no fight but I sure wanted to bend his teeth in.
Even after that, I still respected the IBEW because I had read about its beginnings and I understood that the reason my pay was so good was directly because of the union and what they had done. For most of my career at the city, I was paid right at or above union scale when you take into account the benefits we had so I never had a reason to join other than to pay dues.. I now enjoy a good retirement from the city.
So, that’s my story and I am sticking to it.
I was a city worker my whole life and it was very good to me and I survived it with all of my fingers and toes.
bd" and the chief Rat answers:
"You ARE a Journeyman Lineman Byron, Just as I am...or was.
Ain't workin no more.
And, it don't take union to "certify" you are one.
Non union Utilities, Co-ops, and Municipalities, have THEIR criteria, for Their Journeyman Lineman. The Title of Journeyman Lineman, isn't held or dictated strictly by.... if you are in a union."
http://powerlineman.com/lforum/showthread.php?8981-Org.L.
I guess that's pretty clear for me - if you're union you're not welcome. I'm sure glad linemantoolbox is for all utility/contractor personnel to exchange ideas without fear of attack by a rabid anti-union radical. This may answer as well why Byron has endorsed all the racist attacks on the President of the United States.
CanadianLineman- Posts : 207
Join date : 2012-02-01
Age : 72
Location : West of the Sunrise -
Re: I'm glad I have nothing to do with that FORUM
topgroove Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:23 am
Well said, well spoken CL, I try and avoid that whole Union, non-union issue. I'm more of a worker rights and safety issues guy. It drives me insane to read about all the senceless accidents some of these outfits have. Putting young kids in the primary without proper training. Its classic devide and conquor. Pit one group against the other.
Byron couldn't wait to purge his site of knowledge and experience in favor of Pike rejects like swamp.
Byron couldn't wait to purge his site of knowledge and experience in favor of Pike rejects like swamp.
topgroove- Posts : 428
Join date : 2012-01-29
Re: I'm glad I have nothing to do with that FORUM
CanadianLineman Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:14 am
Well, if I were selling something in the linetrade or otherwise an advertiser is sure wouldn't want my money linking me with that bunch of radical racists anti-union weirdos.
CanadianLineman- Posts : 207
Join date : 2012-02-01
Age : 72
Location : West of the Sunrise -
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum|
|
|